March 23, 2007 by Jen.

Here in Maryland, as in much of the country, we have had a strange winter. January was supposedly the warmest on record, and even February and March have had some really warm days! But then, out of the blue, 3 different snow storms suddenly descended on Western Maryland and as a result we’ve had 6 snow days and 3 delays total. Pretty crazy! It is my hope that spring has finally arrived. Here are some photos of our snow events and of my recent excursion with the Class of 2007 to Washington, DC. (The cherry blossoms should be blooming shortly, but, alas, I will be in England….ah well, life is full of trade-offs!)

Posted in Random | 1 Comment »

March 15, 2007 by Jason.

I flew back home yesterday afternoon. When I left, Dad was walking around the unit and is making great progress. If you would like to talk to him, his direct number is 616-391-7047.

I’ve just been informed that he is being discharged right now. He will be home tonight and can be reached at their regular number. The doctor said that he wants him to be the poster child of surgery recovery! Hopefully, he will begin to feel alleviation of his symptoms and make real progress at home.

Posted in News | 2 Comments »

March 12, 2007 by Jen.

Surgery finished around 1:00 p.m. and went successfully! Everything went as planned. He is in recovery now and will probably be groggy or out for the rest of the day. They are trying to keep him sedated for pain. It will take a few days to a few weeks before we know if the surgery will actually fix the problems. So, thanks for the prayers and keep praying!!!!

Jason Update: We came back from dinner around 6, and he was awake, alert, and in a lot of pain. He still has his sense of humor but was obviously struggling. We had the nurse administer some codeine and he seemed to do better. He will spend the rest of the night in the ICU, but we fully expect him to be moved to a regular room tomorrow.

Posted in News | No Comments »

March 12, 2007 by Jen.

Marv is in surgery right now (10:45 a.m.) to hopefully fix his Arnold-Chiari Malformation (Type II) and will be in surgery and recovery until approximately 2:00 p.m. Please keep him in your prayers! He was in good spirits and was able to spend some time with the family before he had to go in to surgery. Kate, Jason, Kelly, and Kate’s sister Sue and Marv’s sisters Iris and Lorene are all there waiting. Check out this webpage to learn more about the condition and the surgery: http://www.neurosurgerytoday.org/what/patient_e/chiari1.asp

Posted in News | 2 Comments »

March 9, 2007 by Jason.

In a few short hours, I will be heading to BWI airport and flying up to Grand Rapids. As some of you may know, my father is having brain surgery on Monday. It will be nice to spend the weekend together before he goes in and starts what will be a lengthy recovery process. Thank you for all the support we’ve received so far in words and prayers. I will post more information as events move along. I imagine the hospital has decent Internet.

I woke up at 3:15 and we were on the road by 4. I had the chance to take a nap this afternoon, so I’m feeling okay. Kelly’s train arrives at 10:30 tonight so we will have to drive downtown to pick her up later. It’s been nice to relax today.

300!

We had a great idea this morning- go see 300 at the IMAX theatre! Unfortunately, the whole town had the same idea. We got there at 1:20 and looked to buy tickets for 2:00. Nope, sold out. Okay how about 4:30. Sold out. 7:00? Sold out.  9:30? Yes, there are tickets available. However, that’s a little too late considering we have to be at the hospital in the morning. So we decided to go see Wild Hogs, a kind of middle-age biker road trip fantasy. It had some funny moments, but more importantly, we haven’t been to a movie as a family in years. That was nice.

Posted in Serious | No Comments »